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Erin Burnett Outfront

Hope Hicks To Cooperate With Dem Probe Into Trump; Trump For First Time: "I Don't Mind" If Mueller Report Released; Rep. Eric Swalwell (D) California Is Interviewed Trump Decision About Releasing Mueller Report; Trump Goes On Vicious 5-Min, Tirade Against John McCain; Trumps Says "We Have The Best Economy We've Ever Had" As Federal Reserve Says Economy Is Slowing Down; DOJ Issues Subpoenas in Criminal Investigation of Boeing. Aired: 7-8p ET

Aired March 20, 2019 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR, CNN: Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Dana Bash moderates from the CNN Center in Atlanta later tonight, 10 PM Eastern only on CNN. Thanks for watching. Erin Burnett OutFront starts right now.

ERIN BURNETT, ANCHOR, CNN: OutFront next breaking news Trump confidante Hope Hicks cooperating with House investigators tonight. The White House though continues to Stonewall. Plus, the President goes after John McCain again, and again and again tonight in a lengthy rant accusing McCain of not doing enough for vets. Why aren't more Republican standing up to the President. And breaking news, the Justice Department issuing subpoenas and a criminal investigation into Boeing. Let's go OutFront.

Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OutFront tonight, the breaking news, one of President Trump's most trusted confidantes, his former Communications Director Hope Hicks is now cooperating with House Democrats. Hicks agreeing to turn over documents to the House Judiciary Committee.

Now, Hicks is very important, she was at the President's side through the campaign and at the White House until she left a year ago and she didn't leave as persona non grata. Since then she's accompanied President Trump to rally. She's still close to the President. Hicks is just one of 81 family, friends, business associates, entities of Trumps that received letters from the powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The Committee with the power to lead impeachment proceedings.

So far only eight people have agreed to cooperate. Trump's White House is not on the list of cooperators. The White House reportedly ignoring more than a dozen requests for documents from the committees and yet today the President for the first time publicly said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does the American public have a right to see the Mueller report?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't mind. I mean, frankly, I told the House, "If you want, let them see it." Let it come out. Let people see it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OK, so when it comes to the Mueller report he's now saying let the people see it, which of course sounds good and sounds transparent. The problem is, is that the President showed his true colors on this issue earlier this week when he tweeted, "On the recent non-binding vote, 422 to zero, in Congress about releasing the Mueller Report, I told leadership to let all Republicans vote for transparency. Makes us all look good and doesn't matter. Play along with the game."

Play along with the game, because action speak louder than the President's words today saying, "Let them see it." Sources tell CNN White House lawyers expect to see Mueller's Russia findings before Congress and the public so that they can claim executive privilege and prevent people from seeing anything Trump doesn't want us to see. That is a far cry from transparency.

Pamela Brown is OutFront live outside the White House tonight. And Pamela, the President wants to say he's fine with everybody seeing the Mueller report, but that is a long way from the reality of actually having it released.

PAMELA BROWN, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: It certainly is, Erin. The President is changing his tune today. He is now saying the Mueller report should be released to the public compared to before we he defer to the Attorney General to make the call. But the President saying this, as you point out Erin, is a far cry from an actually happy.

The President wants to send a message, it seems, that he has nothing to hide, similar to the idea he wanted to sit down with Mueller and be interviewed which as we know never actually happened. So the question is does the President's pledge put pressure on the AG, the Attorney General to release the report in full since the President is his boss.

From a practical standpoint, Erin, he probably couldn't because of potential classified information and Grand Jury information in the report, but he does have wide discretion to share other information. And sources tell me the White House wants to review whatever he gives to Congress beforehand so they can assert executive privilege if need be. That seems counter to this idea of the President saying today, release the full report.

Now, speaking of transparency, Erin, the White House is actively working to respond to the House Judiciary Committee after missing a deadline to respond. The White House official telling me tonight the response will be comprehensive and thorough in responding to the Committee's requests. But, Erin, that doesn't necessarily mean the White House will comply with the requests.

Clearly, the White House is working on its own timetable here, Erin.

BURNETT: All right, Pamela, thank you very much from the White House and now Democratic Congressman from California Eric Swalwell who sits on the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committee's so what's your what's your thought of the President today which he seems to be singing a different tune and says, "I'll let everyone see the Mueller report." Do you believe him?

ERIC SWALWELL, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Well, good evening, Erin, and also I just have to say now Nowruz Mobarak which is Happy New Year to the Persian community and in Muslim community in my district and across the country. But I don't believe him, because has obstructed every step along the way. If the Mueller team has a cable package, they will have seen him obstructed on cable news nightly, almost. There's no exception to who could be so dumb that they would tell Lester Holt that they obstructed justice by firing James Comey.

I also don't believe him because he won't sit down even though he's been given the questions that investigators want to ask with the Mueller team while others have gone under oath.

[19:05:06]

And I don't believe him because he has put in place two people to be Attorney General who audition for the job by saying that they don't believe in the legitimacy of the Mueller investigation. But Erin he's outnumbered, there's a majority in the House Representatives that will ask for this report and there's precedents in the judiciary that will require him to turn it over.

BURNETT: OK. So you believe we'll get it although it is, obviously, a fair point. Remember he said how many times that we play him saying, "I want to sit down with Mueller." OK, well, he never did. OK. CNN has confirmed that Hope Hicks, former White House Communications Director and as you know a Trump insider confidante, she plans to comply with your Judiciary Committee's request for documents related to the probe into President Trump.

Now, among the many reasons she's important, it's not just that she's a confidante and close to him and was with him by his side at all times during the campaign and, of course, in the White House. One of those times is Air Force One, when the President dictated that initial statement about Don Jr.'s meeting at Trump Tower which was false that it was about dirt on Hillary Clinton and the statement came out, but it was about adoptions. How important do you think Hope Hicks could be?

SWALWELL: Critically important and she's seen things, Erin. I was a part of the interview team that interviewed her in front of the House Intelligence Committee. And during my questioning with her is when she acknowledged that she had told lies on behalf of Donald Trump before.

Now, when I pressed her as to what those lies were, she refused to answer. She also refused to answer whether she told lies for Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and others who she worked for and some --

BURNETT: So when they said, "Oh, she just meant white lies and harmless things," and this was all taken out of context, because I believe that was kind of the pushback that we got at the time. Your impression was no, that is not taking it out of context. It wasn't just a little white lies.

SWALWELL: Well, my impression was, "OK, well, tell me the lies that you told and the people that asked you to tell them." And she said dozens of times, "I refuse to answer. I refuse to answer." We were in the minority then and the Republicans refuse themselves to have her answer. We're not in that position anymore, so we can get the answers from her.

She actually in what she was willing to talk about was quite cooperative. Her memory is very deep and extensive and I think if she has a subpoena hanging over her, I think we can find out a lot about this candidate, these businesses, the transition and the administration.

BURNETT: So you've said there are indictments waiting for this President and you're now, I understand, working on legislation that would basically extend the criminal statute of limitations for sitting Presidents so that, essentially, Department of Justice policy as you don't indict a sitting President, he gets reelected, he could be outside the statute of limitations by the time he leaves office. You want to remedy that. You could get it through the House, presumably, Democrats control it. Is there any chance the Senate would support that?

SWALWELL: They should if they care about the rule of law, Erin. The President of the United States is individual one in an indictment that someone else is already going to jail for. I do not see how he gets out of himself being indicted if the statute of limitations doesn't run. What we want to do is make sure that no President ever, Republican or Democrat, can escape a criminal liability just because they're reelected, so that legislation is forthcoming.

BURNETT: OK. Now, you've also said you're not there yet when it comes to impeachment. I just want to share a new poll out tonight here at CNN. Among all Americans, 36% think Trump should be impeached. That's a low number and it is down seven points from December, 11 points from September, that is a plunge. OK. And it's not just a Republican plunge, although obviously they weren't for it to begin, with Democrats also huge plunge.

Impeachment supporting Democrats went from 80% to 68% just since December. That is huge drop in support for impeachment, why do you think it happened?

SWALWELL: Well, I think the American people also want to see us bring down the cost of their prescription drugs, expand infrastructure investments and make sure their kids have good schools in their community. We've also already passed background checks. So we want to show that --

BURNETT: So they see it as like you're going to be spending all of this time on impeachment that you're not going to be doing those other things and they're saying that's the priority.

SWALWELL: Yes.

BURNETT: That's what you said, OK.

SWALWELL: We should not lead with impeachment but we shouldn't look the other way either and what I believe is that there's three criteria that I have before I would be willing to support impeachment. And I think there's evidence that's concerning, but one - the stakes have to be so high for the conduct that the American people understand why it offends our rule of law and our norms.

Two, the evidence has to be strong. It can't just be based on one witness' uncorroborated testimony. And three, I want the public, Republicans and Democrats, to be bought in. We're getting there and will continue to look, but I don't think we should eagerly rush into this. I mean, this is an extraordinary remedy and I want to give Donald Trump a fair investigation and he would give anyone else.

BURNETT: All right, Congressman Swalwell, I appreciate your time. Thanks.

SWALWELL: My pleasure.

BURNETT: And I want to go now to the former New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram. So, Anne, when the President says put the Mueller report out, obviously, that goes against a lot of the other things he's been saying and doing and then the interview with Mueller that he never did when he said he wanted to.

[19:10:07]

OK, putting all of that aside, what's his bet here? Is it a bet on Bill Barr?

ANNE MILGRAM, FORMER NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Right. So I think it's a really interesting question that he is potentially betting on. There's one of two things, one the bet is that he's betting on Bill Barr, the Attorney General saying, "No, don't release it," and this is exactly what he did speaking with Mueller's team. He said, "I'd love to do it, but my lawyer tell me not to. Exactly. And sort of relying on legal representation.

The other is a bet or a gamble that he'll be exonerated or at least not - that there will not be sufficient evidence that the public will be swayed. And so the one thing I would take issue with a little bit is I actually do think that this report should legally be released by the Department of Justice.

There's a lot of precedent in civil rights investigations. I was in the Civil Rights Division at DOJ. Think about the reports, the Ferguson report, the reinvestigation JFK, the reinvestigation of Martin Luther King Jr.'s murder. And so there are countless examples where those - with the court's permission where those types of reports have gone out.

BURNETT: So DOJ policy though, of course, is not to indict a sitting President.

MILGRAM: No. BURNETT: We can all debate policy precedent, OK, but that's the

policy. If that's adhere to, Trump wins reelection, the point that the Congressman Swalwell was just making, he could then be outside of statute of limitations. And so it's possible unless there's a change in the law, he could avoid being charged altogether if he wins reelection.

MILGRAM: I think that's right. So most federal crimes are five-year statutes of limitations and so if you think about most of the conduct, Mueller is investigating 2016 and 2017 involving the President, those five-year statute of limitations would run in 2021, 2022. If the President is reelected, he would still be President, and so it does seem to me that there's a real reason for concern because it's clear the President isn't above the law. There's cases that say the President can be charged after he's been or she's been President.

But if you have it that there's guidance that says you can indict a sitting President and the general federal statute of limitations is five years.

BURNETT: Very interesting.

MILGRAM: You can't.

BURNETT: All right. Anne, thank you very much. That's something to think about. A lot of people probably had not even thought about that yet. OutFront next, the President intensifying his attacks on the late senator John McCain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted. I don't care about this. I didn't get thank you. That's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OK. Plus the President in Ohio today with this message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have the best economy we've ever had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So why then is the Fed raising a major red flag today? And President Trump calling George Conway a husband from hell. His wife Kellyanne Conway is taking President Trump's side.

[19:15:00]

Tonight, President Trump continues his assaults on the late senator John McCain. Speaking before factory workers today on a trip which was supposed to be about spotlighting manufacturing in Ohio. President Trump went on a five-minute rant, five minute rant and here is just part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So I have to be honest, I've never liked him much. Hasn't been for me. I've really probably never will. But there are certain reasons for John McCain receive a fake and phony dossier. He said two hours before he was voting to repeal and replace and then he went thumbs down. McCain didn't get the job done for our great vets and the VA. We're in a war in the Middle East that McCain push so hard. And I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted which as President I had to approve, I don't care about this, I didn't get thank you. That's OK. We sent him on the way. But I wasn't a fan of John McCain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: "We sent him on the way. But I wasn't a fan of John McCain." OK, OutFront now Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, former Army Commanding General for Europe and the 7th Army, and Rick Santorum, former Republican Presidential Candidate and former Senator from Pennsylvania.

General Hertling, let me start with you, your reaction?

MARK HERTLING, FORMER ARMY COMMANDING GENERAL FOR EUROPE AND THE 7TH ARMY: Well, what I'd say, Erin, is most folks in the military have a perspective of their leaders whether they're their civilian leaders or their military leaders as requiring character in order to lead and build trust. Part of that character is an understanding that you pay homage to the values of our nation, which include treating each person with dignity and respect.

I think across the Board in the military, these comments are going to add to other comments that the President has said about various folks who have worn the uniform and create quite a stir and they have based on what I've seen from some of my colleagues. I was disgusted by it. It's vile vial behavior. But how many times have we said that before and attempted to rationalize what the President says and why he says it because he's had an enemy of John McCain.

I knew Senator McCain, had my ass chewed by him a couple of times, as a matter of fact, both in combat and in peacetime and in the halls of Congress. I didn't agree with everything he said. But I did see him as a true patriot and a servant of our country and it's unfortunate that the President doesn't see it that way.

BURNETT: Rick Santorum do you share General Hertling's sort of visceral emotional reaction to this, disgusted by it, that it's vile behavior?

RICK SANTORUM, FORMER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is vile behavior. But the bottom line here, this is about the Steele dossier, this is about the revelations that came out over the weekend that further implicated John McCain and his team of promoting this Steele dossier which, of course, in the President's mind believes that this is the reason for the FISA warrants and ultimately for this Russia investigation. So this is him doing to John McCain what he did to Jeff Sessions,

which is someone who he believes is implicated in causing the biggest noose around his neck, if you will, when it comes to his presidency, which is just the constant harangue of this investigation which is obviously impeded in his presidency.

[19:20:00]

BURNETT: I'm curious when he said the things he said, when you all are referring that it's vile and disgusting, I presume among other things that he said you're referring to, John McCain given what he went through and what he did for vets, so he didn't get the job done for the vets and things like that that the President said. Yet, I want to just play the response he got from his crowd, from his voters, his people who were there today, General. Here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A lot of people are asking because they love me and they asked me about a man named John McCain. And if you want that - tell you about it, should I or not? Yes? Yes?

CROWD: Yes. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So they seem to like it, it's seems to me that's sort of back and forth.

SANTORUM: That was pretty tough, Erin. I mean, that was a pretty tepid. I mean you didn't hear a big cheer. Look, I've been in those --

BURNETT: Oh, so you see it differently. OK.

SANTORUM: Yes, I did. I didn't think that was much of a cheer at all, number one. And number two, look, I've been in crowds where the President went after John McCain during the primary back in 2016.

BURNETT: Yes.

SANTORUM: And there was not a lot of cheering going. There were some and look John McCain is a controversial figure within the party these days.

BURNETT: So you don't think this works with his base, Senator?

SANTORUM: But what - pardon?

BURNETT: You don't think it works with his base.

SANTORUM: I don't think it works for anybody. Look, this is the President who's just personally upset about what John McCain did that caused him problems with the Russia investigation and he's just blowing off steam, but this is not a winning strategy for the Republican base, for any base. BURNETT: All right, so - yes, go ahead General.

HERTLING: And what's interesting, Erin, is that is Senator McCain did exactly what he needed to do when he came in possession of the dossier. He needed to give it to the authorities, the FBI, which he did.

BURNETT: He did.

HERTLING: That's what makes this so troubling. It's interesting, I'll add another piece to this that this is a behavior that is continually debated on various cable channels, why is the President doing this, who's holding him accountable. The thing that I'm concerned with is having testified before Congress multiple times and been held accountable for my actions as the Commander of a large force, I think it's time to hold Congress accountable for centering the President and saying, "We will not accept this."

BURNETT: OK.

HERTLING: This is not the behavior we expect from a leader of our country.

BURNETT: So I want to - to this point, OK, you did have Johnny Isakson today, he came out and said it's deplorable. He did call him out. You've had Martha McSally come out and say it's not OK, Senator Romney. You have had some people, General, but I want to just play Lindsey Graham because he gets to the heart of what I think you're saying. Obviously, he's one of McCain's best friends professionally and personally. He called President Trump out on McCain today. I want to play exactly how we did. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY GRAHAM, UNITED STATES SENATOR: I love John McCain, I traveled the world with him. I learned a lot from him. He's an American hero and nothing will ever diminish that. I think the President's comments about Senator McCain hurt him more - the legacy of Senator McCain. I'm going to try to continue to help the President.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And that last line maybe the one that matters, because ultimately Graham as you both know while he calls out the President sometimes when push comes to shove, when it matters, he almost always gets on the Trump train. His words, here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: To every Republican, if you don't stand behind this President, we're not going to stand behind you when it comes to the law.

To my Republican friends, get on the train.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: Can you have it both ways at this point, General?

HERTLING: No.

BURNETT: ... Lindsey Graham.

HERTLING: The video has to match the audio. Senator Graham is just talking and he talks when it's in his favor as he's conducting his reelection campaign right now with the vice President campaigning for him and yet tomorrow, he'll do something different to support the President. The President needs to be called out and held accountable by the members of the Senate, all of them, both sides; Democrats and Republicans.

It is behavior that we should not expect of our President, because we should expect a higher standard from him representing our values and our Constitution and he's not doing it and Congress is the only people that can center him and say, "Stop doing this. It's crazy."

BURNETT: And yet Senator Santorum and obviously your former Senator, I mean, he's not talking to you right now, but I mean, there's no chance that's going to happen. I mean I think it's pretty clear. I mean, am I wrong?

SANTORUM: Well, I think to center a President because of his rhetoric and because of his incivility, I think we changed the standard of what center is all about, the reality is with the President - I agree with the General. I find the President's conduct when it comes to these types of personal attacks reprehensible.

But what Lindsey's talking about is the President as President, governing as President he's going to support him because he's by and large, agrees with what Lindsey wants to do and Republicans and Conservatives want to do when it comes to policy, and that's the differentiation. I think it's important to speak out. I congratulate Johnny Isakson and Martha and others who have spoken out. I think others should.

[19:25:00]

I think maybe to the General's point if more Republicans would be a little louder in condemning the President's forays into personal attacks, there might be some hesitancy to do it in the future.

BURNETT: All right, thank you both.

HERTLING: Yes, I'll just add to that just like commanding from a military perspective means more than just the things you do as a commander. It means leading your force, governing should entail more than just policy and strategy. It should mean how you represent the American people and I don't see the President doing that very well right now.

BURNETT: All right, thank you both. And next, President Trump also today talking about the economy. It came on the same day that the Fed is warning of a slowdown. Trump's Chief Economist Kevin Hassett is OutFront. Plus, breaking news, the FBI now involved in a criminal investigation into the Boeing 737 Max, multiple subpoenas from the Justice Department tonight.

New tonight, President Trump was in Ohio touting the economy today. The President, of course, recently attacking General Motors for closing a plant and Lordstown, Ohio. And again today reiterating is call for General Motors or someone else to reopen it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: What's going on with General Motors? We have the best economy we've ever had. We have the lowest unemployment that we've had in 51 years. Soon it will be the record all time and what's going on with General Motors. Get that plant open or sell it to somebody and they'll open it. Everybody wants it. Sell it to somebody or open it yourselves, get it going now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: All right, the President is spending time on this because where Lordstown is matters, Trumbull County, which is where the plant is located voted for Trump in 2016. That is the first time that county has voted for a Republican since the 1970s.

[19:30:10]

A lot is at stake.

OUTFRONT now, Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Kevin, good to have you back on the show.

So, the president today having that fund-raiser, only an hour away from Lordstown, where that factor -- General Motors factory is closing. You know, I spoke the other day to the UAW Union leader, David Green, who President Trump, of course, had personally attacked on Twitter.

He says he's tried to reach out to the president twice to talk about the plant. He didn't get a response.

What is President Trump going to do about those jobs at this plant?

KEVIN HASSETT, CHAIRMAN, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Right. Well, first, I can say that I'm not really sure I agree with the way you set the thing up in the sense there's some narrow political calculation for why the president is there talking about cars. Ever since I first met the president more than two years ago, he's always talking about cars, and we have been pursuing policies that bring auto jobs back to the U.S.

We just pulled the numbers before I came to see you. And did you realize that since the election, there are 56,000 more autoworkers in the U.S. than there were when President Trump was elected. And that's because of tax cuts and dereg and all a whole bunch of things. So, when the president sees something like 56,000 more jobs in the auto sector that he sees a plant closing, and he's sort of puzzled about it. I don't want to speak about a specific company. That's not my job at the CEA, but I think he's right that given the big expansion of production and employment that we're seeing in durable goods and autos, probably someone is going to buy the plant if GM wants to shut it down.

BURNETT: So, is he going to take this on as a personal issue, this specific plant? Because obviously he has talked about it specifically.

HASSETT: I have not heard that he's going to try to find a buyer or anything like that, but he really cares about blue-collar workers and the economic report, the president, that came out yesterday, we documented his policies have really improved the lives of blue-collar workers. Their wages are going up. Their unemployment rate is really low. Again, think about it, even in the auto sector, employment is up by 56,000. That's really quite striking.

BURNETT: So, when you talk about improvements, you know, the Federal Reserve today came out and actually cut its growth forecast for the year. They cut it down to 2.1 percent. It had been 2.3 percent. Both numbers below where you want to be, right?

HASSETT: Three percent or higher.

BURNETT: You have been saying you're going to get to 3 percent or higher. But the Fed is just absolutely not even close to on the same page as you. Why are they wrong?

HASSETT: Well, I have all the regard in the world for Jay Powell and the people there, and respect their independence. So, I think one of the things that's been different between us and let's just say a lot of forecasters is that we have been a lot more optimistic about the economic impact of President Trump's policies.

The policies have basically delivered about as we said, you know, in the first year of our forecast, GDP came in above our forecast, but when we made it, everybody said, oh, that's ridiculous. It's too high. I think we were about 2.4 percent, and the previous year, it was about a percent less than that.

And then last year, at the beginning of the year, we said we'd be at 3.1 percent. Sure enough, we were at 3.1 percent. We said there'd be a capital spending boom, sure enough --

BURNETT: You had a quarter. Yes.

HASSETT: You know, there was a capital spending boom, but the point is just that we think the models that got those two years right are the models we should rely upon, and my expectation is we're going to have another 3 percent year and that next year, you know, if we do, then we would be right to stick to our models, and I think at that point, people are really going to wonder, jeez, maybe we need to adjust these things. BURNETT: OK. So, you know, you're now saying let's celebrate 3

percent. But, you know, again, when it comes to a president, a lot matters. What he promised, what he said he was going to deliver.

Here's what the president promised.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to get us to 4 percent growth and create 25 million jobs over a ten-year period.

Look, we're going to have a tremendous GDP. It's going to be maybe 4 percent, and it could even be higher than that.

We're bringing GDP from really 1 percent, which is what it is now. But we're bringing it from 1 percent up to 4 percent, and I actually think we can go higher than 4 percent. I think you can go to 5 percent or 6 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Did he have any idea how hard that would be? Did he know those were promises that don't fit with reality?

HASSETT: We had a quarter of four, but, you know, I think that the president is an optimist, and one of the things that economists know is that, you know, if you have an optimistic president, that thinks about how good things can be, then that drives consumer sentiment and business sentiment and can lead to positive outcomes that are way above expectation.

So, if you look at the inflection, the sentiment, I think the president's optimism has had a big effect on that --

BURNETT: So, you view it as optimism and not politically expedient promises.

HASSETT: Let's just say that it's the economic report of the president that came out. It's not the economic report of Kevin Hassett. And the president agrees with our forecast that we're going to average about 3 percent over the next decade, dropping a little below that over the next ten years.

But he's really an optimist. When I'm in the Oval with him, you can see it every time -- he's like, Kevin, I think we're going to do better than this. It's just the way he did.

BURNETT: The Joint Committee on Taxation released its latest overview of the tax system. And here is what we found, for the first time in 50 years, Kevin, for the first time in 50 years, individual income taxes account for more than half of tax revenue. Corporate share has plunged because they got a big cut. It is now at barely 6 percent, which is the lowest since 1983.

[19:35:04] When you see those numbers, it's shocking.

(CROSTALK)

BURNETT: Wait, individuals are paying all the taxes to subsidize a corporate tax cut?

BURNETT: That's completely backwards. You and I have talked about this before.

So what happened is that we brought the factories back home. We had a capital spending boom. The capital spending was expensed. So temporarily, corporate revenues are down because of it.

But what did we say back in the tax debate would happen, if we had the capital spending boom, that wages would skyrocket. If you go to the CEA Twitter feed, you can all sort of charts that document that that's what's going on. In fact, the bottom 10 percent of the income distribution is seeing wage growth right now of about 6.5 percent. It's spiked if you look at the chart.

So, it's happening exactly the way we said by having a capital spending boom in a period of low unemployment that you get an increase in wages.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: That you say will continue and the Fed, of course, does not, just to make it clear, right? I mean, we don't know whether that's going to continue.

HASSETT: But what happens if there's a big surge in wages? People pay tax on those wages. So therefore, the share of personal income goes up.

So if you have a wage boom, you're also going to have higher taxes on the personal side. It's not like a shocking terrible thing the way you portrayed it.

BURNETT: But you and the president believe that that's the way, that's the right way, right, that we should have -- that people, individuals should be paying more? And the margin is greater and greater between individuals and corporations on who is carrying the tax burden in this country?

HASSETT: No, we believe that the reason that wage growth was basically nonexistent over the last decade, but certainly before the president came in, was that we are the highest corporate tax place on earth, and nobody was building factories anymore. That manufacturing employment dropped, if you go back to right before the great recession by 200,000 over President Obama's eight years.

Manufacturing employment is now up by 500,000. Those manufacturing jobs are really good paying jobs. People are getting wages again because we brought the factories home.

So, being the highest corporate tax place on earth is a really bad idea for workers. So, that's what we said before the tax cuts passed, the tax cuts passed, and the tax cuts delivered. We have seen the capital spending. We have seen the wage growth, just the way we said.

BURNETT: OK, the "Wall Street Journal" is reporting something that does not fit with this narrative. They're reporting former bankruptcy filings as one date point, and major farming states are now at their highest level in at least a decade, which goes not just generally against what you're saying but very specifically against one of President Trump's promises. Here it is.

HASSETT: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: On every front, we're fighting for our great farmers, our ranchers, our growers.

We have to take care of our farmers and our ranchers, and we will take care of them.

We want to open up China to farms which will make it better than it has ever been. You know, farmers have been going down economically over a 15-year period, long before I got here. We're going to have it go the other way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: "Wall Street Journal" reports the surge is in part because of the president's tariffs. Is he even aware this is happening and that his tariffs are being blamed?

HASSETT: Yes, I think, you know, I was in a meeting today with the secretary of agriculture, and he absolutely is briefing the president all the time on factors of the sector. I think that the farm bankruptcy issue is something we have to pay close attention to.

There are a lot of factors driving farm prices this year, in addition to trade. There was a bumper crop in soybeans and so on. But, you know, I think in the end, the strong economy is going to drive consumption and increase agriculture and everything else.

The final thing is that the trade deals are moving forward. Ambassador Lighthizer and Secretary Mnuchin are still working on the deal with China. And we've got the USMCA deal that could pass and help farmers by opening up markets in Canada.

And so, the president has been fighting for farmers. And I think as the trade deals are realized, then people are going to -- we're going to open up new markets to our farm products and we'll see those numbers reverse.

BURNETT: All right. Kevin, thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

HASSETT: Thanks for having me, Erin. Great to be here.

BURNETT: And next, President Trump slamming George Conway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I call him Mr. Kellyanne. The fact is that he's doing a tremendous disservice to a wife and family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Well, according to my next guest, former Trump business partner, going after family members is Trump's M.O.

Plus, the Justice Department issuing subpoenas in an FBI criminal investigation, this into Boeing 737 MAX.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:42:58] BURNETT: Stone cold loser and husband from hell, that's a quote from President Trump. That's what he's calling George Conway.

But the president did not stop there. That was a tweet. He continued here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He's a whack job. There's no question about it, but I don't really know him. He -- I think he's doing a tremendous disservice to a wonderful wife.

Kellyanne is a wonderful woman. And I call him Mr. Kellyanne. The fact is that he's doing a tremendous disservice to a wife and family. She's a wonderful woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: As for Kellyanne Conway, making it clear whose side she is on, she told "Politico", quote, in an interview, Trump left it alone for months out of respect for me, but you think he shouldn't respond when somebody, a non-medical professional, accuses him of having a mental disorder. You think high should just sit that down?

That nonmedical professional is, of course, her husband, George Conway, who is questioning Trump's medical state, even tweeting out the diagnosis for narcissistic personality disorder.

OUTFRONT now, Jack O'Donnell, former president and chief operating officer of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.

So, Jack, you know Trump obviously very well over many years. Is this par for the course?

JACK O'DONNELL, FORMER PRESIDENT & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, TRUMP PLAZA HOTEL & CASINO: Well, I think it's absolutely par for the course. You know, listen, George Conway attacked his personality, and I think that the president was going to come back very strong. And not only does he come back strong, but he comes back to try to tug at some emotional piece.

And I think getting -- if he can cause more friction between the Conway family, I think that's what Trump is trying to do. And it's very typical of him. He did it to me. He's done it to others.

BURNETT: So, tell me what he did to you, because obviously here, what he is doing, right, is not just counterpunching and saying, OK, the guy is totally wrong or saying I'm not going to conscience this with a reply, right? It's getting into his wife and their kids. It's deeply personal.

O'DONNELL: Sure. Yes. I mean, a good example with me is I did a show at one point, a Phil Donohue show.

[19:45:04] And Trump was to be there or have a representative there, and he brought Roger Stone in to be his representative, and completely off subject in the middle of the show, Roger Stone takes off with a character assassination of my father. Well, you know, that's what he does to try to get people to react emotionally. And it's a way of control for him.

And so, you know, that's one of a couple. He also obviously planted stories that I wrote about in my book where he tried to plant stories about an affair that wasn't happening, because he knows at that point that even the story, even if it's not true, you have to go back to your family and explain what's going on. That in and of itself is a victory for Trump. Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: And, you know, there's other times he's done this publicly about family members. Here's a few examples.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because that's the one that people want to look at.

If you look at McCabe, and his wife is getting all of this money to run. She lost.

Hillary Clinton's only loyalty is to her financial contributors and to herself. I don't even think she's loyal to Bill, if you want to know the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And then Ted Cruz, of course, be careful or I'll spill the beans on your wife.

Why do you think he does this?

O'DONNELL: Well, listen. Its' -- there's a mean streak that runs through Donald Trump's heart that I don't think people can underestimate. And he does get a great deal of satisfaction out of that.

So while I'm not a diagnostician for mental health disorders, there is a piece of this that is almost sociopathic, that he likes to hurt people. And you don't have to be a professional to see these traits come out in him. So, I think it's part of him, quite frankly. It's who he is.

BURNETT: Now, Kellyanne Conway when she talked to "Politico" today, to Dan Lippman, she told the story, you know, about how she and the president have been talking about her husband's tweets.

She said: Trump could privately say to me, honey, you're a distraction. We love you. You'll always be a part of the family, but just go be with your kids. They need you. Go make a million dollars an hour. Go do that, honey. It's the opposite.

And the use of the word honey, by the way, we talked to Dan. She was being very serious. She wasn't being sarcastic. The president uses the word honey to talk to Kellyanne.

It's not the first time we heard her say he does that. Here's an exchange with our Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: What's his response?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: And he's like, OK, honey, then we'll win. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: That's how he talks to women, honey? Professional women that work with him.

O'DONNELL: Well, I think it's how he treats women generally, Erin. But it also does something in the public's eye that's very disturbing. It creates not just the perception that she has to choose between her husband or Trump, but it presents a more intimate relationship, and he knows that he's doing this.

And that's very unfair to any woman that's subjected to that kind of treatment by this president.

BURNETT: All right. Jack O'Donnell, thank you very much.

And OUTFRONT next, the breaking news, Boeing at the center of a criminal investigation tonight by the FBI and the Justice Department. Now, multiple subpoenas have been issued in a criminal probe.

And Devin Nunes and his cow. And you know what? Nunes is getting utterly destroyed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:28] BURNETT: Breaking news. The Justice Department is issuing multiple subpoenas as part of a criminal investigation into the Boeing 737 MAX. Now, that plane, of course, has now crashed twice, killing every single person onboard.

These images from the most recent, the Ethiopian Airlines crash, 157 people died. Evan Perez is OUTFRONT.

And, Evan, we now understand FBI is involved, it's criminal. What more are you learning?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. The FBI and the Justice Department prosecutors have issued these subpoenas as part of this investigation. We're told that this is still very early in the process, but one of the things that investigators are trying to figure out is whether or not there's any criminal laws that have been broken in the way Boeing certified this aircraft as being fit to fly, whether or not there were any criminal laws were broken in the way the certification, the safety, as well as the training manuals were prepared and as well as the way that Boeing has marketed this aircraft around the world.

It's become a very popular aircraft in just a couple of years that it's been on the market.

BURNETT: So, the criminal investigation, I think what's important, too, you're learning, Evan, this started after the Lion Air crash, 189 people died there.

You've had this probe start and now you've had another crash. What could be the significance of that?

PEREZ: That's right, exactly. This certainly caught the attention of investigators early on and certainly the Department of Transportation, Erin, has also started investigating this, because I think what you're going to see is that this self-certification process, whereby Boeing essentially was responsible for certifying this aircraft and then presenting this information to the FAA, to decide whether or not it was ready to get the certificate, to be able to sell this aircraft, whether there was anything wrong in that process.

I think members of Congress are now asking questions about that process. And I think you're going to see a broadening of that investigation, whether or not this is a process that the FAA should be using at all.

BURNETT: All right. Evan, thank you very much.

And you know, just was checking here, some GDP numbers, because the Boeing news that Evan's reporting on could have major economic consequences.

And moments ago, I asked the chief economic adviser for President Trump, Kevin Hassett, about this, right? What would this do for the growth for the entire United States? Boeing is the largest exporter in this country and it would matter.

Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASSETT: We have certainly lots of data on aircraft production and Boeing production. And were there to be a disruption is something that would show up in GDP. It would be probably -- if they shut for a whole quarter, I think the number would be probably about 3 to 4/10ths off the GDP number.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: All right. That's huge. Three to four-tenths off a GDP number when you're talking about 3 percent, 2-1/2 percent, 2 percent, 2.1, according to the Fed, GDP, is huge. We're talking tens of billions of dollars.

Obviously, with this criminal probe, all of this now a big question mark on the table.

On a much lighter note, next, Jeanne Moos on Congressman Devin Nunes getting trampled by the comedians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: He's literally suing an imagery cow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:57:36] BURNETT: Tonight, a story about Congressman Devin Nunes and cows. Here's Jeanne.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After Republican Congressman Devin Nunes lashed out at a parody cow account and his $250 million defamation lawsuit against Twitter, is it any wonder cows stuck out their tongues at him?

KIMMEL: He's literally suing an imaginary cow.

MOOS: The parody account, Devin Nunes's cow, was created to mock Nunes, whose family runs a dairy farm.

REP. DEVIN NUNES (R), CALIFORNIA: People were targeting me. There were anonymous accounts.

MOOS: So he targeted the parody account.

The lawsuit didn't just let the cow out of the barn, it caused a stampede.

A stampede of cow humor being milked for insults. When a horse's ass gets taken down by a happy cow. There were pole dancing cows and photo-shopped cows. The cow jumped over Devin Nunes.

And "The Washington Post" declared Nunes is having a cow.

KIMMEL: We can't have our -- can't have livestock insulting our elected officials. Please don't follow Devin @devincow. MOOS: A campaign kicked off to have the cow account surpassed Nunes'

own Twitter account in the number of followers.

Devin Nunes' cow started with only 1,200. Within 24 hours or so, holy cow! This is no bull. The cow won. Blowing through 400,000 followers and climbing.

Nunes' lawsuit against Twitter inspired Stephen Colbert to goad the congressman.

STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: That's why it's totally legal for us to make @devinnunesskin, an actual account where you can find announcements such as, "still thin." Devin, we look forward to your lawsuit.

MOOS: Take it from Bart Simpson.

BART SIMPSON: Don't have a cow, man!

MOOS: Actually, it's too late for that advice.

Nunes is already getting so much cow side eye, it would make any cower.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York. I'm even dressed like a cow today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: I was discussing, do you think she did that on purpose? She had to have had. Oh, yes she did. Nothing that Jeanne does is not done with great purpose.

All right. Coming up here on CNN, a live presidential town hall with Democratic candidate and former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper moderated by Dana, starts tonight at 10:00 Eastern.

Thanks for joining us. Anderson starts now.